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"Nope," he said. "Shit. That would only make this worse. Mama would be sure Hannah's using me for the money. Besides, my name's going on that kid's birth certificate. That's my boy. Don't care who started him out, I'm gonna be his papa. Hell, I knew about him before Hannah did! That's why she took the pregnancy test!"
All I could do was chuckle, because he was right. When she'd started getting sick, emotional, and having issues, he'd guessed she was pregnant. They'd been together a matter of days at that point. Renato didn't care, though. He'd liked the woman enough to take the whole package, and damned if it wasn't working out for the both of them.
"So," he said, his tone implying he was changing the subject. "How's things with Cody? Saw her rides. Scores didn't really match. How's she taking it?"
"She dumped me."
Yep, might as well pull the band-aid off fast, right? Just get it out there, let my best friend laugh at me, and suck it up when he started gloating, which was what should come next.
But Renato surprised me. "What happened, Ty?"
All I could do was sigh. Yeah, I was doing a whole lot of that lately, but it was better than cursing a blue streak or throwing things. "Um, I fucked up."
"How?"
Yeah, and that was the problem. "I tried to be her protector," I mumbled. "She said I was getting in her way."
Renato made a noise. It wasn't a grunt, wasn't a hum, and yet it was sorta both. "Hang on."
Then the phone sounded muffled and scratchy. A second later, a very familiar woman's voice piped up. "What did you do, Ty?"
"Got dumped, Hannah." I chuckled. "Didn't he tell you that part?"
"Oh no!" she breathed. "What happened?"
So I repeated what I'd told her other half, but with a little more detail. "We got to Cheyenne, and I couldn't figure out how to make this work."
"This?" she broke in.
"Me, Cody, Tanner, and J.D."
"Why them?"
"Because Cody wanted them."
"Oh." For a moment she was quiet. "So like a group thing? Or more like a casual thing?"
"Kinda both," I admitted. "I mean, we hadn't exactly been together long enough to make it more than new, but it wasn't just a fuck because we can fuck thing."
"Least there's that," she grumbled. "Ok, fill me in?"
"Well..." I got up and headed to the mini fridge while I talked. "Someone was saying Tanner was gay, so he put on that show for her in St. Louis."
"I remember that," she agreed. "Didn't know about the gay part."
"Well, Cody wanted to make sure the rumors died fast," I explained as I pulled out a bottle and popped off the top. "See, Austin had already been giving her shit, so when he started on Tanner, she wasn't having it. I was ok with that. Plus, she liked the guy. So, I figured that if I've been screwing everything, then maybe she'd feel better if she got to live a little, right?"
"In a very convoluted sort of way, I suppose," Hannah said.
"So she and Tanner were working out, and Tanner was cool with me and her, and then there's J.D."
"That crazy fucker," she added.
"Yeah, but he's crazy for her," I admitted. "And, well, things got complicated in Cheyenne. See, Tanner's her official boyfriend. J.D.? He's her mentor. Makes sense for them both to be around her, but me? I'm just a fucking asshole who wants to get fucked."
"You, Ty McBride, are a hell of a lot more than that," she chided. "I mean it. Besides, if you're serious about a woman, getting to know her - boyfriend or not - is a damned good way to start."
"Yeah, but I'm not really fucking the girls at the bars anymore," I mumbled.
